Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Wednesday’s trading session with minor losses, as traders remained on side-lines ahead of Reserve bank of India’s (RBI) MPC policy meeting outcome. Traders are hopeful that RBI will announce a 25-basis-point rate cut on February 7 to stimulate growth following recent personal tax cuts. Index made a positive start, as some support came after a recent report by the State Bank of India (SBI) noted that the country's retail inflation is expected to decline to 4.5% in the last quarter (January-March) of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), while the overall average inflation for the year is likely to be at 4.8%.
But, index traded volatile throughout the trading session, as traders were cautious after business survey showed growth in India's dominant services sector was the slowest in over two years in January amid cooling demand but remained historically strong and led to a substantial rate of hiring. The HSBC final India Services Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 56.5 in January from 59.3 in December, a tad lower than a preliminary estimate of 56.8 but comfortably ahead of the 50-mark separating contraction from growth. Finally, index settled below its neutral line.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Metal and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in Realty, FMCG and Consumer Durables. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Computer Age Management Services, Oil India and Abbott India. On the other hand, the top losers were Phoenix Mills, Godrej Properties and Tube Investments of India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24400 - 24600 calls and 22900 - 23100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
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